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United States Patent | 6,215,598 |
Hwu | April 10, 2001 |
Apparatus for concentrating a broad area laser beam, beams from diode laser bars and/or diode laser arrays include a collimating device disposed adjacent to the laser source for collimating and directing the laser beams into a laser beam sheet in a first direction, and a digital optics device disposed in the first direction from the collimating device for shaping and concentrating the laser beam sheet into a narrow overlapping laser beam. The concentrating device includes a pair of diffractive or digital optical devices positioned in the pathway of the collimated laser beams such that the first optical device causes the collimated beams to converge and the second optical device forms the converging beams into the desired collimated laser beam.
Inventors: | Hwu; Ruey Jennifer (3767 E. Brockbank Dr., Salt Lake City, UT 84124) |
Appl. No.: | 166020 |
Filed: | October 5, 1998 |
Current U.S. Class: | 359/641 |
Intern'l Class: | G02B 027/30 |
Field of Search: | 359/618,631,641,619,621,627 |
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Foreign Patent Documents | |||
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"Binary Optics: New Diffractive Elements for the Designer's Tool Kit," by Alan Kathman and Eric Johnson, Photonics Spectra, pp. 124-132 (Sep. 1992). "Binary Optics: New Diffractive Elements For The Designer's Tool Kit," by Alan Kathman and Eric Johnson, Photonics Spectra, pp. 124-132 (Sep. 1992). "Binary Optics", by Wilfrid B. Veldkamp and Thomas J. McHugh, Scientific American, May 1992, pp. 92-97. "Binary Optics: New Diffractive Elements For The Designer's Tool Kit", by Alan Kathman and Eric Johnson, Photonics Spectra, page numbers unknown. "Visible Sources Venture Beyond Research Markets", by Bruce Craig, Laser Focus World, Nov. 1997, pp. 91-97. "DPSS Lasers Challenge Water-Cooled ION Lasers", by William L. Nighan Jr. and Bruce Craig, Laser Focus World, Apr. 1996, pp. 63-70. |